By Michael Wojtychiw
The sport of water polo in Illinois is still one that isn’t as recognized nationwide as it may be in other states. Without playing club water polo, the chances of playing in college are slim, even more so in the city. So those who want to play water polo in college are forced to go to the suburbs to play on local club teams.
A prime example of this is recent Senn graduate Tobias Zeeck, who played for the Elmhurst Aquatics water polo club when he wasn’t playing with his Bulldog squad.
The extra playing time paid off as Zeeck made history this spring, becoming the first-ever Chicago Public League water polo player – boys or girls – to sign a National Letter of Intent to play the sport at the NCAA Division I level. Zeeck will take his talents to New York this fall and suit up for Wagner College’s men’s water polo squad.
“The process started around freshman year, I knew I wanted to play in college,” he said. “I’m the first person in my direct family to be a college athlete. Water polo is still pretty niche, even in Illinois, so it was a lot of emailing coaches, going to camps, making sure I could continue the communication and keeping a good first impression.
“I ended up spending pretty much every moment thinking about what I can do to make myself better.
I really found my best fit with Wagner. I really, really love New York, love a big city. I visited over winter break and I absolutely loved it. The area, the coaches I connected with ideally.”
His legacy at Senn won’t be just that one, however.
Zeeck transferred to Senn after spending his freshman year at Amundsen and one of the first things he did was reach out to those in athletics about starting a water polo team.
“I transferred to Senn from Amundsen before my sophomore year and I knew they had a swim team,” he said. “I asked around about a water polo team, there were people interested and our coach played water polo when he was younger, so the stars aligned and we did everything we needed to make it happen.”
The Senn graduate started in the pool first as a swimmer, around the age of 6 or 7, but that became really monotonous for him and he wanted something new and different.
So he tried water polo.
Because of his club team obligations, he was able to play in the Junior Olympics for at least three years, allowing him to get competition against better players from all across the country.
“National competition brings in so much attention,” he said. “There are two areas, the California Junior Olympics and Texas Junior Olympics. I’ve played in both and it’s so much fun. I enjoyed playing against really good teams, learning from those games.
“I had a lot of self-confidence issues my freshman and sophomore year in high school. But I kept on pushing myself and realized that self-pity wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I just worked the best I could.”
Zeeck, a right-winger during his high school days, doesn’t know what he’ll play in college because you have to do a little bit of everything, but that’s something that excites him.
“I really like right wing and being left-handed it suits my abilities,” he said. “From what I’ve been told, there are no real set positions, you have to do a little bit of everything. I’m really excited to play like that and learn every position.”
